Ever face a figure or team you can't seem to take down? Then this is the series for you. We take a deeper look into those problematic pieces and Exploit their Weaknesses! In this edition, we take a look at my Holy Grail of heroclix, the one figure I never thought would be made that finally was: Nightlantern!

Click "Full Story" below as we analyze this awesome figure and Exploit his Weaknesses.

Thanks for joining me in another installment of Exploiting Weaknesses! As with the other articles' precursors, Pulse Wave will not be discussed as it is almost always effective. If it isn't effective, I will point out why.

Here is the dial for reference.



Things that tell me I need to stop hallucinating and focus:

- Hypersonic Speed
- Running Shot
- Good combat values
- Amalgam Trait
- Bat Ally / Green Lantern TA
- Invincible / Invulnerability

Exploiting Nightlantern's Weaknesses

Looking at him and he is pretty accurately costed for the points, has a way to punch damage through reducers on every click, and offers a pretty cool support role for your team. Is he Tier 1 worthy? Probably not but I would hate to see him teamed up with Nick Fury SR and a running shot Amalgam! Let us see what makes him tick and how to combat it.

I want to start off giving special consideration to outwit. Nightlantern has no way to protect himself from outwit except by hiding in stealth from the Batman Ally TA. If you have some IT: Hindering on your outwit piece, you will easily be able to shut him down and that is half your opponent's force. If you can't see through his stealth, you may have a harder time but it isn't impossible. Picking the right map with little hindering can help in this matter as it forces your opponent to play him much differently than anticipated. He may have no protection of very strategic placements he has to go toward and you can set up a trap (something the villains in the 2 issues Nightlantern appears in were unsuccessful in doing).

We can see his Hypersonic Speed on the first click can give us some issues. I have noticed lots of new players either gravitate toward this power or are afraid of it. Even veterans like myself can be intimidated by it. However, it isn't all that hard to work around. In the case of Hal Grayson here, he only has 10 movement and 7 range so the threat is only 14 squares. This is a manageable amount when we consider we can use indoor blocking terrain to slow that down. We can see he struggles against stealth with no way to see into it so we can even stay just 12 squares out and hide that way. This puts us well within striking distance the following turn. Plasticity gives us a way to stop him in his tracks so he can't actually make his attack. It is definitely not a smart move to use hypersonic as a full movement attack and most players will only use that tactic when they are desperate. So by keeping just far enough away that they can't escape after attacking, you are forcing them to make a bad decision if they want to attack. He only has HSS on the first click so if you can ping him for 1 click (2 or 3 damage attack) you are doing yourself a big favor. Not only does he lose HSS but he has no more move and attack style powers until later down the dial. If you aren't paying attention though and do 2 clicks (4 or 5 damage), you hit him onto Running Shot so be careful.

Speaking of running shot, he has 2 clicks of it and that is it for move and attack style powers. Click 3 and 6 are the only ones for running shot so just a few pokes and you have made him mostly useless. You can just run away and leave him alone, gunning after the supporting cast until you feel like dealing with NL again. Just be careful when he is on these clicks as he has psychic blast or pulse wave. Just hit him for a little to get him off the HSS or RS and get outta dodge. He has Invulnerability on the first RS click so 3, 4, or 5 damage attacks will work or just a 1 penetrating damage attack will do the trick.

Because of the placement of his reducers, you are going to have to go in inverse order of attacks. Most players will take a big shot first and then a medium shot, and then a small clean up shot. However, we need to switch that around. Due to the Invincible, we need to take a small shot if we want him to be a sitting duck. We could go for the big shot but will need to do 6-7 damage in a single attack to hit him off Invincible and a move and attack power. The only downside to hitting for a small amount first is you still end up on Invincible but by making him a figure that can't run and gun it may be worth it. Once he is on click 3-5 he only has invulnerability so our usual penetrating damage attacks will work nicely for us. The last two clicks has no reducer and you can clean up however you see fit.

We also need to be conscientious of the fact he has pretty good combat values on average. Starts with a solid 11 attack and 18 defense for 4 damage. He can continue with average stats but has some penetrating damage so even his 2 and 3 damage attacks are painful. Fortunately after he is off the invincible clicks he goes to a 17 and 16 defense so we can have an easier time hitting him later down the road.

The Green Lantern TA gets a little mention here but not for 300 point games. In bigger games, we can see that a Batman Family, Teen Titans, or Gotham City Theme Team will have a nice big taxi to get everyone in your face. Be careful about how you place and what figures he has available so you don't get caught in a swarm. He is bringing up to 8 teammates with him and if you aren't prepared, you will suffer the consequences. There is no really good way to stop the GLTA but if you really feel the urge, look to ways that can stop the carry ability, like GotG Nebula.

The Amalgam trait is the hardest to plan for. We don't know what he will be teamed up with or what that teammate will need for powers. But what we do know is 1) the Amalgam character needs to be less points than the teammate it is being equipped to, 2) the Amalgam must be on it's click #1 and link the dial, and 3) the equipped figure can only choose a standard power (no special powers allowed). This keeps the ability from being too game breaking. We can think of plenty of good teammates, like SR Nick Fury being an Amalgam with any HSS or RS figure. How about a Hulk with HSS or that HSS figure that has Exploit Weakness (which can't be used together) and give them charge? Oh, I see this figure has Energy Explosion and Psychic Blast but I can't get around Super Senses. I know! I will Amalgam it with someone who has Precision Strike!!! The combos are endless and can be pretty cool.

So, what are we doing to Nightlantern?

- Stay just outside his medium threat range to set up a good counter strike or alpha strike the following turn
- Ping him for small amounts of damage to keep him off the move and attack powers he desperately needs to use
- Outwit any of his powers as needed since he has something useful on every click
- Use stealth to your advantage since he will need to close combat attack you. This mitigates his 7 range that he would rather be using

How do these tactics help or hinder us against the rest of his team or other teams during the same tournament?

- Positioning is always key in winning a game so just make sure to remember the other team's threat range and park outside of it as long as possible
- Look at what the other figures have for reducers and try to plan accordingly. It is hard to remember every dial out there but for the most part they keep the same pattern. A couple clicks of "x" reducer followed by a couple clicks of "y" reducer
- Outwit is on almost all top level teams for good reason. It is useful in swinging the battle in your favor as well as keeping your opponent from doing what they want to do, no matter what team you are facing
- Some teams can handle stealth pretty well so don't rely on it being your only good defense. Make sure you can change it up as needed, though this may not always be feasible

That's all I have this time! Until next time, always look for the chinks in the armor and Exploit your opponent's Weaknesses!

Another fine article. I thought it was funny if you aren't paying attention because I don't memorize my dials very well, how am I going to memorize my opponent's?

I'll try to remember your advice to hit him light at first. Thanks again!

Nightlantern is a fun-seeming character that I've barely seen played, so I appreciate that this article was as much a "how to play this figure" as a "how to play against this figure." Thanks!

You're welcome and I appreciate that you caught onto the duality of the article. Wanted something different this time around.

Nother great article PURPLEsurfer

Keep up the good work.

One of my ONLY wants from WF... traded heavy to get him, then pulled him TWICE more. that's my luck.

One of my favorite Amalgams I did was giving the UC Artemis Super Strength from Wonder Woman... she REALLY started hitting hard. Giving Joker's Daughter Booster Gold gave her some mobility and utility

My main 'wish' regarding this character is that this figure and the Green Lantern Batman would have fit together on a 300-point force.

Thank god for this article. Now every time I see this clunky over expensive piece facing me, I know to beat it.

Yeah...me too! It was painful to see!

Played Nightlantern and Nick Fury with Roy Harper LE #100 as amalgam. RS or RCE! I won 2 outta 3 games and finished 4th out of 14. All opponents immediately go after Nick, leaving Nightlantern. Big mistake! I mopped up in my 2 victories with him after Nick got KOed. He even scored my few points in my loss with a KO after Nick was gone. Pretty good combo!

I mean, and don't get me wrong, his dials not that good. He's a MAJOR glass cannon and if you have outwit he's good as dead. Compared to many other 150 figure he's sub par as most of his cost is put into that trait. A article I would like to see would be the Quinjet or Felix Faust

Already did quinjet! See sig below.

Took this sucker out with Punisher's van. Surveillance device and The BFG are a nice combo for this boy.

Am I missing something? There is no Quinjet listed after the jump in your sig.